The PSP is by far one of the best retro handhelds around, but it’s getting old, so it’s about time a PSP concept came around… and that’s just what we’ve found online.
The notch has been featured on the forefront of new technology over the past year, we’ve seen the iPhone use it, and a wide number of other smartphones.
But now a concept of a brand new PSP has been revealed and it too uses the notch, but in a much more impressive manner.
An artist named Yonghwan Kim has created the PSP concept using high end illustration software, at first we thought it looked a little over the top, but the longer we looked at it, the more we fell in love with this concept.
You could almost state it looks similar to a Nintendo Switch Mini, due its popping colours but the PSP concept has a number of features that we absolutely love and we just wish Sony would bring it back in a form factor similar to this.
Straight off the back it looks ergonomically sustainable, curved edges, rubberised shoulder buttons and high end flexible analogue sticks makes the PSP concept look like a pleasure to play on.
The large 16:10 4K screen bends around with the handhelds curvature, and smoothly hugs the controls.
The controls are lightly placed on the face of the handheld, causing a little stress but this shows off the technology, and adaptable playability behind this PSP concept.
Checking Out The Buttons On This PSP Concept
We’ll admit the buttons look a little too close to the screen, a slight miss-press and you’ll be touching the display which could cause all kinds of problems when playing games on a touch sensitive handheld console.
Under the screen towards the bottom you are greeted with two very large speakers, and it being a 2023 concept audio is a large form factor in the latest games, we expect these two fellas to pack a serious punch.
The reason the designer added such large speakers is because he wanted to keep the system fairly thick, probably the same thickness as a Bittboy Pocket Go, allowing him to add large speakers but most of all make it comfortable to hold and easy to transport.
If you look closely at the above picture you can see a slight concave added to the D-PAD and buttons, this allows for quicker response and it lets you play for longer periods of time.
We’ve never seen this in a handheld console before, where the controls literally dip into the console, it’s a phenomenal edition to the PSP concept and well thought out by Kim.
Around the PSP concept handheld you can see volume controls on the top alongside a USB-C port, this seems odd to us. We would of liked to see this on the bottom, allowing for docking accessories and more, but we guess you can dock it… upside down?
Back To Black… and Grey
On the back you have a matte black approach, with a modern day PSP logo and what looks like a cartridge slot for your best PSP games. We’re not sure why they didn’t go with metal, just like the Metal Gameboy, but hey, the matte black plastic looks very slick!
We’d like to see it being able to be docked, so you can play your latest Playstation games in handheld mode or docked mode. Imagine that, being able to play Apex Legends or Horizon Zero Dawn on this thing?
Just thinking that gives us Goosebumps! And obviously with a new PSP will come many, many retro games, and no doubt people out there will try to hack this thing too.
Seeing these pictures and thinking about the possibilities of a new PSP makes us very excited. Sony, please, bring back the PSP!
With the launch of the PS5 it’s likely that if the concepts were true, that it would be able to sync with your console and play some of your best PS5 games on the go.
Not only that you could read notifications, download games, watch TV and use this PSP concept like a tablet that syncs with your console. Heck why not even pimp it to go with your best PS5 panels so they look a like?
Below are more images of the PSP concept for you to enjoy.
Final Thoughts
Having a Portable Playstation to slip in your pocket would be an amazing idea today, but is it something that would stick?
Now that the Switch officially surpasses Game Boy sales numbers, there’s an argument that Sony and Microsoft might try to join the current trend. Still, could they catch up, and how would the games run on such a small system?
Look at the size of the PS5 and all of the tech that goes into making it the most powerful console on the planet. How would a smaller device cope with that kind of processing power, and would the battery last longer than 35 seconds at full brightness?
Yes, I’m thinking about the Steam Deck’s poor battery life here.
Still, as this is a concept, the answers to these questions aren’t going to bring us much hope or happiness in the immediate future. We can speculate and dream though; I’d love to play Ragnarok on the go and then dock when I got back home!